“We can have a party when we get back, and roast the chestnuts,” suggested Nan.
“I hope we get a lot,” went on Bert, kicking aside the pine cones and dried leaves. “We’ll want some for Flossie and Freddie.”
“Yes, and for daddy and mother,” added Nan. “They like chestnuts, too.”
The day had started as a bright and sunny one, though it was colder up here in the North Woods than down in Lakeport. But Bert and Nan were warmly dressed, and they were so accustomed to being out of doors that a little cold did not bother them.
But though the sun had shone brightly when they had started on their nutting trip, they had not gone far before the sky began to be overcast with clouds. Not that Bert and Nan minded this. They were too busy looking for chestnut trees and thinking what a good time they were having to mind the weather.
For it was fun just to walk through the woods and breathe the sweet, spicy odors of the pine and cedar trees. The ground underfoot was thickly carpeted with dried leaves and pine needles, so that the footfalls of the older Bobbsey twins made scarcely any sound as they walked along.
It was so quiet that the children heard many sounds in the forest which was all about them. They were following a path that led along Pine Brook, and Jim Denton had said that if they kept to this path they would come after about a mile’s walk to a grove of chestnut trees.
“And if you don’t find any nuts there, keep on a little farther,” the lumberman had said. “The squirrels and chipmunks can’t have taken all of them.”
So interested were Bert and Nan that they paid little attention to the weather. In fact, they could scarcely see the sky at times. This was because the cedar and other trees were so thick overhead.
As they were going along the path where the pine needles made a thicker carpet than usual, Bert, who was in the lead, came to a sudden stop.